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LOCAL PRESS

Elektrodistribucija: Northern Kosovo owes 12 million Euros to Serbian Power Industry (Blic)

The Director of the power distribution (Elektrodistribucija) company in Kosovska Mitrovica Slobodan Vukadinovic has stated that the Serbian Power Industry (EPS) in northern Kosovo has delivered since 2009 electric energy in the amount of around 12 million Euros, that the level of paid bills isn’t high because of which they are forced to turn off electricity to those who are not making regular payments. Vukadinovic says that the total charges for northern Kosovo are around 12 million Euros, 60-70 percent of which is owed by companies. Vukadinovic says that one of the biggest consumers of electric energy in northern Kosovo is the “Trepca” plant that is at the same time one of the biggest debtors. He says that the level of paid bills for consumed electricity in northern Kosovo is around 20 percent, that they aren’t satisfied with the percentage of collected debts and that they are working in the direction of collecting money for electric energy. Speaking about the future talks in Brussels that will be devoted to energy, Vukadinovic says it is natural that everybody in the north fears this but that, according to the information he has, he thinks that Elektrokosmet employees will stay in this region and work as they have so far.

Brussels hiding the cards (Novosti)

The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue will be separated from the negotiating process between Serbia and the EU. That means new conditions will not be set within Chapter 35 that concerns Kosovo, this is, in shortest, the conclusion of the meeting between the Serbian delegation and the EU in Brussels. “That Chapter is a novelty for both EU representatives and us. It doesn’t resemble any other chapter and status issues will not be resolved in it. It is important that the representatives of the European Commission have fully understood that what we agree on can very much be influenced by Pristina, i.e. that it can impede us,” said Serbian Minister in charge of Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin. He pointed out that they didn’t discuss the legally binding document that Serbia and Kosovo are supposed to sign at the end of the process: “The legally binding document would be a complete novelty. This chapter will not invent anything new. The dialogue is directing us towards things that will be done in the future. Any of the 35 chapters can stop EU integration. The truth is that it can be simpler to do something like that in this chapter, because it would be difficult for someone to prevent us from harmonizing our legislature with the European, but we can be prevented from implementing something that was agreed in the Brussels agreement. I hope nobody thinks of doing that,” Vulin said. 

Final judgments for Sainovic, Pavkovic, Lazarevic and Lukic (RTS)

The ICTY Appeals Chamber pronounced final judgments to former deputy prime minister of the FR Yugoslavia Nikola Sainovic, former army and police generals Nebojsa Pavkovic, Sreten Lukic and Vladimir Lazarevic, charged with crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. Sainovic’s initial sentence to 22 years in prison was reduced to 18 years. The initial sentence to 22 years in prison was confirmed for the former commander of the Third Army of the Yugoslav Army Nebojsa Pavkovic. The initial sentence to 15 years in prison for the former chief of staff of the Pristina Corps of the Yugoslav Army Vladimir Lazarevic was reduced to 14 years. The initial sentence to 22 years in prisons for the former chief of staff of the Interior Ministry in Kosovo Sreten Lukic was reduced to 20 years. According to the first-degree judgment pronounced on 26 February 2009, Sainovic, Pavkovic and Lukic were pronounced guilty on all five points of the indictment – for forceful transfer, deportation, murders and expulsion of the Albanian population from Kosovo. General Lazarevic was found guilty on the same date on charges for helping and supporting deportation and forceful transfer of the Albanian population from Kosovo. In the appeals to the first-degree judgment, the Prosecution required harsher sentences, while the defense required acquittal or reduction of sentences. The defense claimed in the appeal that the operations of the indictees during the conflict in Kosovo in 1999 was not “specifically directed” at perpetrating crimes.

Dikovic attends meeting of Euro-Atlantic partnership committee (Politika)

Chief of the Serbian Army General Staff Ljubisa Dikovic has taken part in the meeting of the Military Committee of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership in Brussels, which discussed the main effects of establishing a new structure of military cooperation and central security issues. The participants in the meeting have assessed that military cooperation of the European countries has been considerably improved in the previous period, especially among the commands on the operative level. Within the session, Dikovic had talks with the chairman of the Military Committee, General Patrick de Rousiers. While stressing the importance of the first inter-governmental conference between Serbia and the EU, Dikovic has expressed belief that the Military Committee could help in identifying the areas in which the Serbian Army may contribute as part of the common security and defense policy.

Croats request that Serbia pays war reparation (Novosti)

On the first day of the Serbia’s accession talks with the EU, the Croat representative in the European parliament Davor Ivo Stier has posed the question to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule on Serbia paying war reparation to Croatia. On the occasion of Fule’s statement on the importance of the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, Stier asked: “In that context it is important to respect other agreements that urge good-neighborly cooperation. To what degree will the European Commission stress the importance of respecting the Agreement on normalization of relations signed by Serbia with Croatia in 1996, with special emphasis on applying Article 7?”

Serb National Council: Ministry damaged Serbs (Novosti)

The Chair of the Serb National council (SNS) Momcilo Vuksanovic has stated that the Ministry for Minority and Human Rights has caused enormous damages to this organization since it hasn’t allocated it funds necessary for work. “The SNS has lost a large amount of money that enabled the realization of projects important for preserving the Serbian identity and this was probably the intention of the Ministry. Regardless of the legal solutions contained in the Law on Minority Rights and Freedoms and the Rules for electing members of the council, the SNS was denied legitimacy and money for regular functioning,” said Vuksanovic.

REGIONAL PRESS

Kosovo introduces visas for B&H (Dnevni Avaz)

Kosovo has introduced visas for visitors from B&H as a reciprocal measure. B&H has been added to the list of states whose citizens will need now visas to enter Kosovo. B&H recognized Kosovo passports in March 2012, but Kosovo citizens who wish to travel to the country must still obtain a visa. Until then, Kosovo nationals who wanted to travel to B&H had to obtain special travel permits using UN Mission in Kosovo ID papers.

McGuffie: EU will continue to help political leaders (Srna)

The EU will continue its commitment to help the leaders to find a solution and eliminate discrimination in the selection of members of the B&H Presidency and the B&H House of Peoples, the spokesman of the EU Delegation in B&H Andy McGuffie told Srna. “The Commissioner has expressed his willingness to meet again with leaders in a timeframe that suits everyone,” said McGuffie. The marathon meeting that the leaders of the seven main political parties in B&H held in Sarajevo with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule failed because federal partners failed to reach an agreement on the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci decision.
Political leaders after the meeting told reporters that the upcoming talks with European officials on the implementation of decisions of the Court in Strasbourg could be held in two to three weeks.

Word “genocide” removed from Bosniak monument (Fena)

With the help of the police, the relevant utility services in Visegrad, the Republika Srpska (RS), removed this morning the disputable word “genocide” from the monument at the Muslim cemetery Straziste. The erasing of the disputable word was ordered by the relevant municipal inspection service where the Serb Democratic Party is in power, and everything passed without incidents, Fena reports. The Bosniak associations are dissatisfied with that decision by the local authorities. The decision was passed after the RS Ministry for Urban Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology rejected the appeal by the B&H Medzlis Islamic Community in Visegrad regarding the decision whereby it is required to remove the monument to the victims at Straziste.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia's largest party eyes early election (Reuters, by Aleksandar Vasovic, 22 January 2014)

Serbia's powerful deputy prime minister said on Wednesday his party was ready in the event of an early parliamentary election, fuelling speculation he plans to bring down the government within days.

The center-right Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Aleksandar Vucic, the biggest party in Serbia's ruling coalition, is expected to decide by the end of the week whether to seek a snap election and cash in on high opinion poll ratings to try for a stronger mandate after just 17 months in power.

Senior SNS officials say a strong election win would help accelerate the pace of much-needed economic reform, as the largest market to emerge from the former Yugoslavia seeks to capitalize on membership talks with the European Union that began on Tuesday.In an editorial published in the party's magazine, Vucic said "many are calling for" an early election that would coincide with a municipal ballot in the capital, Belgrade, on March 16.

"The Serbian Progressive Party is ready for (elections), to test the power, legitimacy and trust that each party enjoys with the people of Serbia," he wrote.

Opinion polls suggest the SNS has around 40 percent support thanks largely to the popularity of Vucic, the face of a high-profile graft fight that has struck a chord with Serbs weary of years of endemic corruption and deep-rooted organized crime.

A strong SNS win could push the co-ruling Socialists of Prime Minister Ivica Dacic into opposition.

Asked about Vucic's remarks, a Socialist Party official said: "We must work on reforms; elections are not necessary, but we're not afraid of them."

The SNS emerged in 2008 from the Serbian Radical Party, an ultranationalist party committed to the 'Greater Serbia' ideology that fuelled the wars of Yugoslavia's bloody collapse in the 1990s.

Both the SNS and the Socialists of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic have since embraced a pro-EU path. Serbia says it hopes to join the 28-member bloc by 2020.

The governor of Serbia's central bank said the easing of U.S. monetary stimulus had caused the dinar to weaken, denying speculation over an early election was to blame, after the currency hit 16-month lows this month.

Serbian leftist parties protest over EU talks (World Bulletin, 22 January 2014)

Serbian communist parties protest over EU talks, while Serbian PM says the EU "will modernise the system"

The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia and Communist Youth Association of Yugoslavia held protests in front of the Serbian Government's headquarters on Tuesday.

The parties were protesting against Serbia joining the European Union in Belgrade, on the day that country officials met with EU representatives in Brussels to negotiate Serbia's membership.

President of the Association of Communists of Serbia, Svetozar Markanovic said that the protests are the "voice of the majority of Serbian citizens who are not satisfied with situation in the country."

"All communist and workers parties in Europe which follow concepts of freedom, humanism, equality, and social justice are against (joining the) European Union," Markanovic said.

One of the protest's organizers, Vladimir Gavrilovic added, "Serbia should leave the European path and stay neutral. The EU has broke our fatherland Yugoslavia and took Kosovo from us."

Meanwhile, speaking about Serbia's accession at Monday's meeting in Brussels, Serbian Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic said that the EU "is not only the goal, but also the means by which we will modernise our system".

Serbia's membership negotiations are expected to take several years, as the country has to bring its laws and institutions into line with EU norms.

The list of EU membership hopefuls (DPA, 21 January 2014)

Eight countries are candidates or potential candidates for membership in the European Union.

ALBANIA: Applied for membership in 2009. The European Commission, the EU‘s executive, recommended last month that it now be granted official candidate status. But EU ministers have chosen to delay the decision until June, calling on Albania to make more progress on fighting corruption and organized crime.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Has worked on bolstering EU ties for more than a decade, but progress has ground to a halt and the multi-ethnic country remains only a potential EU candidate. The commission has said that there is no "shared vision by political representatives" in Bosnia. Some EU funding has been suspended because of the stalemate.

ICELAND: Applied for membership in 2009 and launched accession talks in 2010, after decades of economic cooperation with the EU. Its fisheries industry posed one of the main challenges. But in May, the new Icelandic government put the negotiations on hold pending a national referendum.

KOSOVO: Five EU member states do not recognize the independence of the former Serbian breakaway province, making EU membership a distant prospect. But the bloc has launched negotiations with Kosovo on a stabilization and association agreement, partially as a reward for its progress in normalizing ties with Serbia.

MACEDONIA (FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF): Applied for membership in 2004 and was granted candidate status in 2005. The commission has recommended five times that accession talks start, but there have been delays due to a conflict with Greece over the country‘s name. EU ministers have said they will revisit Macedonia‘s status in 2014.

MONTENEGRO: Applied for membership in 2008, was granted candidate status in 2010 and started accession talks in June 2012. Seven of the 35 negotiating chapters have been worked on so far. The commission has warned the country that further progress is particularly needed on tackling corruption and organized crime.

SERBIA: Applied for membership in 2009, was granted candidate status in 2012 and started accession talks on January 21, following progress in normalizing ties with its former province Kosovo. The commission has said that "visible and sustainable progress" with Kosovo remains key, as do democratic reforms.

TURKEY: Applied for membership in 1987, was declared eligible in 1997 and started accession talks in 2005. The negotiations later saw a three-year stalemate mostly due to Franco-German opposition and tensions with Cyprus, but resumed in November with the opening of Turkey‘s 14th negotiating chapter.

EEAS looks to draw back from Kosovo (European Voice, by Andrew Gardner, 23 January 2014) 

Mandate of Eulex to be sharply reduced despite rule-of-law concerns

Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief, is seeking to downgrade the EU's mission to bolster the rule of law in Kosovo, stripping it of powers and staff.

The office of special prosecutions, which has won convictions for war crimes and corruption and is part of the EU's mission, would be handed over to Kosovar control.

Under its current mandate, Eulex Kosovo, which is the EU's biggest-ever mission abroad, has the authority to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate serious criminal cases. Eulex also advises local officials in the police, the judiciary and the customs service. In the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, Eulex is the main law-enforcement presence.

But its mandate expires in June and, on behalf of Ashton, the European External Action Service (EEAS) is now proposing to member states that Eulex should be renamed, its staff of 2,250 people cut back sharply, and that it should be closed altogether in mid-2016.

Crucially, the proposed mandate for the slimmed-down mission would mean that, in most of Kosovo, the EU would no longer have the power to launch and manage prosecutions involving war crimes, terrorism, corruption and property and privatisation cases. Some executive powers would be retained in northern Kosovo, but elsewhere EU officials would be reduced to advising local officials.

The argument presented in support of the transformation is that improvements in Kosovo's administration and the start of talks with the EU on Kosovo's and Serbia's integration into the EU have reduced the need for the mission. Documents seen by European Voice also make clear that mounting pressure from the Kosovar government is a reason.

The government of Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, a former rebel leader, wants Eulex phased out. Since 2008, Eulex has launched prosecutions against numerous government officials.

A decision to rename, weaken and then close Eulex would boost Thaçi's chances in parliamentary elections expected by September.

Thaçi is an ally of the EU, having taken a constructive line in EU-mediated talks that last April resulted in a breakthrough agreement with Serbia on the level of autonomy for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

Senior Kosovo officials were briefed on the plan in Brussels last week (16 January), though the thrust of the proposal – to reduce Eulex's scope and size – had already been leaked to Kosovar media. EU member states are expected to start debating the ‘strategic review' within weeks.

The EEAS's proposal is likely to come under close scrutiny from those member states that have attached importance to the post-war reconstruction of the Balkans and the region's accession to the EU.

The proposal must also be squared with the European Commission, which in recent years has reinforced its focus on the rule of law as part of negotiations on EU membership. The first chapters opened in membership talks that began with Serbia on Tuesday (21 January) related to policing, the judiciary and fundamental rights.

Kosovo is further behind than Serbia in its bid for admission to the EU. In October, Kosovo began talks that are supposed to lead to a stabilisation and association agreement, but the primary focus of negotiations in this stage of EU integration is on economic and trade issues.

In a report on Kosovo published in October, the European Commission highlighted persistent problems with the rule of law, especially the fight against corruption and organised crime.

“On the rule of law, Kosovo needs to provide concrete evidence of results in fighting organised crime and corruption as a matter of priority, and strengthen legislation and its implementation,” it said. “Kosovo needs to actively support Eulex in the implementation of its mandate.”

The EU has asked Kosovo to draft by the end of April a three-year strategy on the assistance it requires from the Commission on the rule of law.

Eduard Kukan, a Slovak centre-right MEP, who chairs the European Parliament's delegation to Kosovo, said that some MEPs were critical of the effectiveness of Eulex, but the general view – shared by him – is that Eulex should continue beyond 2016. “It is important for Eulex to be there, because without it the EU loses the instrument that it can use for resolving issues that are very important,” he said. From 1998 to 2006, Kukan served as foreign minister of Slovakia, one of five EU member states that have not recognised Kosovo as an independent state.

EU should not bow to pressure from Kosovo (European Voice, 23 January 2014) 

There is no guarantee that Kosovo will stay on the path to reform

The compulsion to compromise is deeply engrained in the psyche of the European Union. An addiction to find agreement, seemingly at any cost, results all too often in outcomes that satisfy no one completely, though they may be tolerated by most: the triumph of the lowest common denominator.

In a few walks of EU life – notably competition policy and trade policy – the European Commission has sufficient power to take a purer line, though even there it often opts for compromise, perhaps out of habit. In most areas of EU policy, messy compromise is simply the order of the day.

In its dealings with the outside world, the EU's inability to hold a firm, united line is often a disadvantage. It frequently struggles to corral its member states (now 28) into a constant common position.

Nevertheless, it is surprising and regrettable to see the EU unable to stand up to the diplomatic muscle of Kosovo, a country that has not hitherto been considered the most powerful on the European continent.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, and the European External Action Service, the EU's diplomatic corps, are proposing that the EU should neuter its judicial mission in Kosovo, Eulex. That mission has, since 2008, when it took over the task from a body installed by the international community after the wars of the 1990s, been trying to apply the rule of law in Kosovo.

It has had an uphill task. The political class is riven with corruption. The judiciary is weak. The tools of order – the police and the courts – are not independent.

Nevertheless, it has had some successes – including prosecutions, trials and convictions.

So why now should the mission be ended? It seems that Ashton and the EEAS are persuaded that Kosovo has set out on the path to reform that one day will lead it to membership of the EU. The agreement with Serbia to normalise relations, concluded last April, was an important step on that path.

True enough. But there is no guarantee that Kosovo will stay on that path. Indeed, it seems more likely that Kosovo will stray if Eulex is no longer there to guide it.

State-building – establishing democratic institutions and the rule of law – is not easy. There is no miraculous gravitational effect that ensures that when a country is designated for EU membership it will automatically acquire high standards of law and order.

Indeed, the reports published yesterday by the European Commission on Bulgaria and Romania show that democratic and judicial institutions need nurturing and protecting even after admission to the EU.

That should make the EU's member states hesitate before they fall into line with Ashton's proposal, which looks suspiciously like a generous reward for Kosovo's taking a constructive attitude to the normalisation talks with Serbia that she mediated. Serbia was rewarded with the opening of EU membership talks. Now it would appear that the Kosovo government, run by former rebel leader Hashim Thaçi, is to get what he wants, ie, control of the special prosecution office that has hitherto been a thorn in the side of his government – even though the Commission has expressed its reservations.

Member states should ask themselves whether they believe that Kosovo is in a condition to guarantee the rule of law. If it is not, then Kosovo will be a source of problems to the EU for years to come. Whatever the expense of Eulex, the cost of a lawless Kosovo on the EU's doorstep will be much greater.

That urge to compromise, to settle for the lowest common denominator, should be resisted.

UN court trims sentences of 3 senior Serbs for orchestrating Kosovo atrocities (AP, by Mike Corder, 23 January 2014)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Three high-ranking Serb political, military and police officials had their sentences trimmed Thursday for atrocities in Kosovo, but Yugoslav war crimes tribunal appeals judges left in place key elements of a lower court's finding that leaders in Belgrade orchestrated crimes against humanity there in 1999.

In a lengthy and complex appeals decision, judges at the U.N. court overturned parts of the convictions of the four and cut their sentences.

Nikola Sainovic, Nebojsa Pavkovic, Sreten Lukic, and Vladimir Lazarevic were convicted by the tribunal in 2009 for crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians during Serbia's deadly crackdown on ethnic Albanians in 1999. Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic was acquitted at trial and prosecutors didn't appeal.

Sainovic had his 22-year sentence reduced to 18 years, Lukic's 22-year sentence was trimmed by two years and Lazarevic had his 15-year term cut by a year. Judges left Pavkovic's 22-year sentence in place.

"Given my disbelief in this tribunal, I am very happy that Mr. Sainovic got his sentence reduced by four years," Sainovic's lawyer, Toma Fila, said. "That means he will be home next year."

At the time of the 1999 crackdown in Kosovo, Sainovic was deputy prime minister of Yugoslavia, Pavkovic was commander of the Third Army of Yugoslavia, Lazarevic commanded the Pristina Corps of the Yugoslav army and Lukic led the interior ministry and police in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared itself an independent state in 2008.

The trial verdicts came close to posthumously convicting former Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic, with the tribunal calling him the most powerful commander of Serb troops and military police that carried out a campaign of murder, rape and deportations that forced nearly 800,000 ethnic Albanians to flee Kosovo before NATO airstrikes forced a Serb withdrawal in mid-1999.

Thursday's appeals judgment underscored disagreements among the top echelon of judges at the court over legal issues underpinning some of its key recent decisions, most notably the acquittal on appeal of former Yugoslav army chief of staff Gen. Momcilo Perisic.

Perisic was cleared in February last year of aiding and abetting atrocities by rebel Serbs, including the Srebrenica massacre, by providing them with military aid during the Balkan wars. He had been convicted and sentenced to 27 years in 2011.

It had long been known that Belgrade provided arms and other equipment to Bosnian Serb forces, but the appeals chamber said the aid was for the Bosnian Serb "war effort" and prosecutors failed to prove it was given with the "specific intent" for forces led by Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic to commit crimes.

On Thursday, Presiding Judge Liu Daqun rejected that interpretation of international law, saying it is "in direct and material conflict with the prevailing jurisprudence."

The ruling has no effect on Perisic himself. His acquittal can't be overturned.